Much time and effort has been devoted to the quest for so-called invisibility machines. Beyond science fiction, however, there has been little if any real progress toward this goal.
Materials with negative permittivity and permeability leading to negative index of refraction were theorized by Russian noted physicist Victor Veselago in his seminal paper in Soviet Physics USPEKHI, 10, 509 (1968). Since that time, metamaterials have been developed that produce negative index of refraction, subject to various constraints. Such materials are artificially engineered micro/nanostructures that, at given frequencies, show negative permeability and permittivity. Metamaterials have been shown to produce narrow band, e.g., typically less than 5%, response such as bent-back lensing. Such metamaterials produce such a negative-index effect by utilizing a closely-spaced periodic lattice of resonators, such as split-ring resonators, that all resonate. Previous metamaterials provide a negative index of refraction when a sub-wavelength spacing is used for the resonators.
In the microwave regime, certain techniques have been developed to utilize radiation-absorbing materials or coatings to reduce the radar cross section of airborne missiles and vehicles. While such absorbing materials can provide an effective reduction in radar cross section, these results are largely limited to small ranges of electromagnetic radiation.